Welcome to our lesson on process and control! These are important concepts that help us understand how computers and robots work. A process is like a recipe - it's a series of steps we follow to achieve something. Control is like the chef who decides when and how to follow each step in the recipe.
A process is simply a series of steps that we follow in order to accomplish something. Think about baking a cake - first we mix the ingredients, then we bake it in the oven, add frosting, and finally decorate it. Each step must be done in the right order to get the perfect cake. This is exactly what a process is - an organized way of doing things step by step.
Control is what makes decisions about when and how things should happen in a process. Just like a traffic light controls when cars can move, control systems in computers decide when each step of a process should start, stop, or repeat. The traffic control system watches the situation and changes the lights at the right time to keep traffic flowing safely.
In computer programming, we combine process and control to create smart systems. Look at this simple program that controls a fan based on temperature. The process involves checking the temperature and deciding what to do. The control structure - an 'if-else' statement - makes the decision: if temperature is above 30 degrees, turn the fan on, otherwise turn it off. This shows how control structures guide the flow of a process.